The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a)
Agriculture is one of the most important industries in California, contributing over sixty-five billion dollars ($65,000,000,000) annually to the state’s economic activity.
(b)
Agricultural education programs within the California Community Colleges system can, and do, play an important role in providing relevant workforce training as well as college and university transfer options for students.
(c)
Among the purposes of the California Community Colleges Agriculture and Natural Resources Advisory Committee is the development of recommendations for improving and enhancing community college agricultural education programs on a statewide basis.
(d)
It is in the best interests of the public that programs in agricultural education that exist within the California Community Colleges system be measured annually against uniform, objective quality criteria indicators.